"Regression..."
Because the situation in this dungeon was still unfamiliar, we couldn't anticipate Berial's actions.
Could he really be contemplating suicide?
"Nevertheless, it seems like we've caught a lead. Well done."
Evan greeted us nonchalantly.
It seemed like he couldn't escape, although we didn't know how he had found us.
He briefly examined Berial's lifeless body, then surveyed the temple's interior.
'More importantly...'
I was troubled by the words Berial had uttered just before dying.
The words that had started all of this, his determination never to abandon this city, indicated his connection to this dungeon. But it also raised another question.
'Did a human create a dungeon like this by their own power? That's unbelievable.'
It had to be some kind of power related to time, nothing else could sustain such a vast space for hundreds, even thousands of years.
"There is no Soul."
Luna said as she inspected Berial's corpse.
Through her words, we realized that the soul moved with regression.
'In the end, we'll have to regress too.'
We needed to capture Berial to obtain accurate clues.
"They're the ones!"
"High Priest Berial!"
The temple guards who arrived late exclaimed in astonishment.
Tension filled the standoff.
"In the end, that Berial guy holds the clue."
Evan mumbled something strange and raised his sword.
When the guards tightened their grip on their weapons, Evan pierced his own heart lightly.
"See you in the next regression."
Evan said with a nonchalant smile, blood flowing from his lips.
Both I and the temple guards were taken aback by his abrupt action.
"Isn't this a bit too extreme, even for him?"
As expected, sane people were rare among superhumans.
Evan also seemed quite crazy.
"Friend."
Luna reached out to me.
I wasn't sure of her intentions, but I took her hand, and magic was unleashed.
"Let's go!"
Our bodies floated in mid-air.
The guards watched the whole sequence of events with blank expressions.
Through the hole in the temple, we escaped, flying toward the city's outskirts, shrouded in mist.
It might be too hasty, but after Berial's death, there seemed to be nothing more we could gain in this round, as Evan had suggested.
"It's already enough. Berial might be the core of this dungeon... It was easier than expected."
I promised to meet Luna directly at the temple for the next regression and set off toward the city's outskirts, inside the mist.
"Give it back!"
"No way? Try to take it!"
The voices of the children we had heard four times before.
Hearing that faint noise, we ran straight to the temple, just as we had agreed in the previous round.
'This seems to be the most convenient way to regress.'
We had previously regressed by either dying or being enveloped in black smoke, but this time, I liked the method better.
So when we arrived at the temple at full speed, I realized that I was the closest one.
"Who are you?"
The gatekeeper looked wary as he saw me rushing in.
Should I wait for Luna or enter first?
While contemplating this, a sudden chill ran down my spine.
"This is not the time for this."
An ominous premonition briefly crossed my mind.
"This place is not somewhere anyone can enter recklessly!"
Bang! I surrounded myself with mana and leaped towards the temple.
Ignoring the gatekeeper, I forcefully broke through the temple doors and entered. Inside, startled priests all had their eyes fixed on me.
'Berial already knew about regression and even committed suicide!'
I had been too careless. I hoped my assumptions were wrong...
Without pausing, I proceeded to the same spot where I had found Berial in the previous round.
"Gurgle..."
There, Berial, foaming at the mouth, was already looking at me, mocking.
I tried to approach him, but he was already dead.
"Haha."
I chuckled involuntarily.
This lunatic.
He managed to die again.
'What should I do now?'
How can I stop this?
Even if I regress again, if Berial keeps dying...
A dreadful thought crossed my mind: I might have to stay in this eternal loop, just like Berial.
'Berial must have a mental limit to keep dying like this.'
It had to be.
But could I endure it until then?
Berial was already borderline insane.
What were the chances of me winning this regression battle against such a madman?
Kwaang! Evan appeared, wielding a sword, as a part of the temple collapsed.
He glanced inside, frowned as if he understood the situation, and said, "It's a stalemate."
Evan seemed to share my thoughts.
In the end, it would become a mental battle between us.
Berial couldn't keep choosing death indefinitely.
"Barry Sanders, it seems this will be a battle of endurance."
Evan spoke and lightly pierced his own heart.
A showdown of madmen against madmen.
Was it really necessary when we could just leave the city?
"I will probably regress about ten more times in advance. Please assess the situation and act accordingly. Also, inform Luna of this."
Evan's nonchalant words indicated that not just anyone could become an Aura Master.
Soon after Evan's death and the temple's collapse, Luna emerged from the broken temple's gap.
"What's going on? I'm the last one!"
"Luna, things have gotten a bit complicated."
I briefly explained what had just happened.
Luna, after hesitating for a moment about Evan's suggestion to regress around 10 times, asked me, "What do you want to do, friend?"
I didn't have an immediate answer. Evan was surprisingly quick to make decisions.
"I'm confident," Luna said nonchalantly. "But I'm worried about you. Can you handle it?"
I couldn't help but laugh at Luna's concern.
Yes, it was either do or die.
"So, shall we also regress about 10 times?"
"Yeah, we just need to go outside the city 10 times!"
Compared to Berial, who had to take his own life, our situation was much better.
At least we had the option to leave the city.
"If 10 doesn't work, then 20. If 20 doesn't work, then 30."
We could regress more than 100 times if needed. Let's see who would win.
.
.
.
.
Regression 14th round.
Berial still didn't stop dying.
Regression 30th round.
This lunatic kept repeating death endlessly, perhaps because his mind had turned into dust.
Regression 55th round.
It was just a matter of going outside the city, but the concept of time was slowly breaking down.
We managed to stay sane thanks to Luna, even at the 80th round.
Regression 87th round.
Evan needed a brief rest. It was the first time he seemed human.
Regression 100th round.
After repeating it 100 times, a sense of despair began to creep in.
Berial kept escaping, and we started feeling anxious about spending eternity in this space.
And...
Regression 100th round, 101, 102, 103...
At some point, we lost count as the number of regressions continued to increase.
Berial's madness exceeded our imagination, and we were slowly being consumed by that madness.
.
.
.
.
I couldn't remember how many rounds ago I had seen Berial's body and regressed again.
In terms of time, it must have been nearly three years.
No, it could be even longer, but it was impossible to calculate because we repeated the same time and space.
Perhaps we had spent a much longer time inside, or maybe it was shorter than we thought.
'What round is this?'
I tried to recall the number of regressions, but it wouldn't come to mind.
There were so many regressions that Evan and Luna had lost count.
With each regression, our spirits were gradually breaking.
'I'm tired of going outside the city and checking Berial's body at the temple.'
I wanted to give up on everything.
Since nothing was changing...
'I need to change the approach.'
It would be more productive than giving up.
I forced my legs, which had remained still, to move.
I realized that I had been too fixated on Berial.
From the beginning, I had thought that a dungeon like this couldn't have been created by the power of a single human.
'Hidden dungeons are mostly related to ancient ruins. That means they are connected to something that existed only in ancient times,' I pondered.
Ancient times. The era of dragons, giants, and gods. Among them, this place was likely related to dragons and gods.
'Even if it's related to dragons, it doesn't make sense. It's probably related to the gods,' I thought, and it made sense when linked to Berial.
Berial was a priest of Lethe, known as the city's guardian deity. So, it would be appropriate to assume that Lethe's power was at work here.
'If I continue like this, nothing will change,' I thought. To make a difference, I needed to change my approach.
In retrospect, everything in this dungeon was ultimately related to the gods. I decided to let go of my obsession with Berial and investigate the temple.
Luna and Evan might have gone for another regression, but whatever I did in this round wouldn't matter. Evan seemed to have done quite a bit of research on his own, and Luna was probably going to skip this round, knowing that we had agreed to meet in the next one.
If I didn't lose track of the regression count, we would meet in the next round.
So, for now, I headed to the temple alone.
"Who goes there?"
Ignoring the gatekeeper, who greeted me with the same words as before, I walked towards the temple.
It had become too repetitive to even bother acknowledging them.
"Stop! If you come any closer, I will use force!"
I casually pushed aside the gatekeeper blocking my path, who was embedded in the temple pillar with mana, and opened the door.
They were already dead. Moreover, when we regressed, it erased any guilt associated with killing them.
I moved past the priests who greeted me with surprise and headed straight to see Berial.
Even though I knew he was already dead, there was no reason not to confirm.
"Gurgle..."
As expected, Berial was there, laughing and foaming at the mouth.
I smiled at him and said, "You can relax now. I won't be bothering with you anymore. After all, you can't sustain this space with your power alone. There must be something hidden around here, right? I'll find it."
I deliberately spoke as if I knew something, hoping for some reaction.
"..."
But it was too late; he was already in his final moments.
His expression seemed somewhat surprised, but I couldn't tell if it was a reaction to my words or just the expression of someone about to die.
'In any case, my thoughts won't change,' I thought.
There was no way Berial alone could maintain this space.
The dungeon's core must be hidden somewhere, and it was likely inside this temple.
I had to find it, or else I might go mad.
"Kyaah!"
A priest who had entered the room where Berial lay screamed.
I nonchalantly swung my sword to take down the screaming priest and then exited the room.
The countless regressions had worn away my emotions.
Moreover, the thought of going back occupied the back of my mind, so I had no hesitation.
"It's an intruder! Stop him!"
I wondered if the people of this era were weak, or if I had become strong. There was no one among them who could stop me, except for Berial, who was essentially nonexistent now.
'Strong individuals must have participated in the Dragon Expedition,' I thought. Given that they mentioned high-level knights, I believed that Aura Master in this era were called great warriors.
I couldn't be sure, but it made sense since facing dragons without an Aura Master would be strange.
"Kreeugh!"
"Defend the temple!"
I effortlessly dealt with everyone in the temple, leaving behind eerie lifeless bodies drenched in blood.
Finally, the temple's interior fell silent.
I continued searching through the temple, deep in thought.
'Why did I fixate on Berial?' I pondered. Maybe it was part of Berial's strategy, intentionally drawing attention to himself. When I thought about it, it was ridiculous that all this had happened because of one person like Berial.
'I can think this way because I've played games,' I thought. The concept of a dungeon core came to mind. Evan and Luna probably didn't understand the concept of regular dungeons, let alone hidden dungeons. They likely had no idea what was happening.
While contemplating these thoughts, I continued searching the temple. Time passed quite quickly, as I encountered some priests who had called for reinforcements outside, leading to a few confrontations with the city's soldiers.
'It's wider than it looks,' I thought, realizing that the temple was quite spacious. If not for the soldiers in the middle, I would have finished searching quickly.
-Gooo...
It seemed that I was running out of time. I heard the characteristic sound of black smoke.
Black smoke filled the air, and I prepared myself, thinking that this round was coming to an end. "I'd rather not have nightmares," I mumbled.
It seemed too late to leave the city now. While contemplating death, something unexpected happened.
-Goooo...
The dead priests in the temple suddenly turned into black smoke and began moving towards some unknown destination, not attacking me as I had anticipated. I followed the black smoke out of curiosity.
'What's this?' I wondered. The black smoke was moving in an entirely unexpected direction.
-Goooo...
The black smoke entered a crevice in the temple's wall. I drew my sword and broke through the wall.
-Goooo...
Suddenly, something unexpected emerged.
Red scales torn into long, jagged patterns. Blurred pupils in what had once been clear eyes.
It was a gigantic red dragon, now reduced to a hazy, monstrous form.